A DEFIANT disabled man has said he will not budge from his home of more than 20 years after housing bosses demanded he quit the property.

Raymond Marsh, 60, a wheelchair user since suffering a stroke last year, says Wulvern Housing is attempting to force him out of the three-bedroom house at Darlington Avenue in Crewe.

Mr Marsh, who lives with his nephew and great-nephew, also his registered carers, said: 'There has been a suggestion we should be split up and for me to be sent to sheltered accommodation and that my nephew be given a two-bedroomed property.

'I strongly object to being denied the tenancy where I have resided for the last 24 years, and we would still all be there except for that both my mother and myself have suffered strokes and my brother was stricken with cancer and has since died.'

In a letter to Mr Marsh from Wulvern, he was told that the house was in a 'prime, healthy and sought-after location'.

But he says the that the bathroom of the property is in a disgusting state of repair, with crumbling window frames, a cracked toilet and an old cast iron bath.

'My family demanded the bathroom be upgraded so that it was fit for my mother and late brother. Other properties in the road were modernised yet nothing was done for us,' he claimed.

'This is his home of 24 years. This is where his memories are, and it's shocking the stress he is under at the moment.'

A Wulvern Housing spokesman said Mr Marsh does not have the right to automatically succeed the tenancy from his mother, who has moved into permanent respite care since her own illness.

The spokesman added: 'Wulvern Housing has offered to re-house Mr Marsh in alternative accommodation that would better meet his care needs, but unfortunately he has turned down an offer of an already-adapted property, so we will continue to assist him in seeking alternative appropriate accommodation.

'We are committed to working with Mr Marsh and his family to find a resolution to this matter.'